18 comments:

Love the TATW Ann, the colours are so 'you' and really exciting. The way you describe some of the fabrics as "uglies" made me laugh - and wonder which ones they are!

I've always thought that if I 'had' to watch an American sport on a visit to the US (I'm not fond of any team sport, American or otherwise!) I'd rather see a baseball game than American Football, but I didn't realise the pitch (do you call it that?!) was so huge!

And, oh wow, those bark cloths! So much inspiration in just a couple of tones. It makes you really appreciate repeating patterns and how lights and darks make them 'work'. How lucky to see such a wonderful exhibit. Did you have a favourite cloth? I'm not sure I could pick one, but if I had to I'd go for the leaves, or the checkerboard in the second image (love the 'piano key' border).

So sorry I've been awol for a while Ann, but hope to be a round a bit more often now! xx

There are some supremely ugly fabrics in there but, to paraphrase Bonnie Hunter, they don't show because they're cut small. I love looking at your work and am surprised to still see bits from our fabric exchange. Those blues didn't go in Fete. I knew they wouldn't although they looked like your colors. Glad I guessed right!Baseball is my favorite sport. I don't like American football at all. {Very un-American of me.} We call it the field. Wish we called it the pitch. That's so much more descriptive. The field is all the area inside the fence or stands; anywhere a ballplayer can reach. The smaller area of the bases, the part that's dirt, is the diamond. The colors and designs in the barkcloth were eye-popping. I liked the checkerboard and the one at the back left in the last photo. Probably because they looked so much like quilts. How did they grid it without many tools. Where did they lay it out to keep those lines so straight across the entire surface? I'm also intrigued by the first one. It's not an alternate block. I'm "quick graphing" the layout of the different blocks. Mind expanding for me. I'm so "periodic."I read your posts and usually see your photos on Instagram. I'm a bit hit or miss there. I have tried to reply but, as you know, that doesn't work on your blog. I need to remember and just email you privately. So glad you've been hiking. I loved your ideas for hike and sketch or hike and photo. I think it would make a good business.Best always, dear friend.

Happy 4th! Like Stephie, I also wondered which ones were the "uglies." Thanks for the bark cloth photos! I especially like the first one. Given the time period, it seems to me that they may well have been influenced by quilts that missionaries brought with them. It is interesting to see how each culture interprets the designs through a different lens!

They may have been influenced by missionary work or they may have predated it. Now I wonder. The one time we went to Hawaii, I spent several mornings with a Hawaiian teaching native culture. What a wonderful woman. If I went again, I'd like to take more classes through one of the centers. So much to learn.

Some of those 'ugly' fabrics look wonderful cut up into much smaller pieces! Always love to see your fabrics in action! Thanks for the Bark Cloth show. Very, very interesting to see the patterns come through even in the limited color ranges.

They did cut up beautifully, which is good. They were about to be tossed. In fact, my version of tossing is to put them in one of these scrap quilts. The patterns and designs were intriguing to me, too. They kept the lights very low. I'm sure the cloth is fragile... at least by this time. Still, it was a pleasure to study them.

Such a wonderful scrappy mix of fabrics in your TAtW top! Love all the pics of the show... we call it tapa cloth here in NZ. Tapa cloth is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. "Nowadays tapa is often worn on formal occasions such as weddings. Another use is as a blanket at night or for room dividers. It is highly prized for its decorative value and is often found hung on the walls as decoration." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa_cloth

Tapa was one of the words they used in the exhibit. It seems each island has a different word for it although most of them made it. I didn't see any from NZ though. Do you have some in your house? Can you fold it or do you roll it? So interesting. Using it like room dividers reminds me of Japanese rice paper dividers.

The trick is to arrange all those random fabrics in a way that ends up looking like they belonged together all along, and that is what you are so good at. Fantastic bark cloth - isn't it interesting how some designs and motifs seem universal.

How kind of you, Kaja. I think I just throw stuff together. I frequently have a very low bar: if it doesn't make me sick, it's ok. And I do believe we already curated our fabric when we collected it. I love the way you use fabric and even more, the way you create units into non-gridded quilts. I'm so mathematical myself. Yours is such an advanced algorithm to me.It was interesting to compare designs; what is similar and what is different. I could have spent hours.

How did you ever leave that museum? Or not touch the bark cloth? That's always the hardest part for me--keeping my hands to myself. My husband says he comes with me to shows so he'll know where to go to get me out of quilt jail. I need to feel the texture and get a close look. "Close" means I can smell it if that will help. :) I'll have to look up some info on bark cloth. You've piqued my interest.

Your TATW quilt is just mesmerizing. I want to look at the tiny pieces of fabric and compare designs and pick out colors and analyze the rainbow-ness of the order and all sorts of crazy quilt lady stuff.

We only left with time to get to the game. I taught my children to "look with your eyes, not with your hands" but it's hard for me to follow that instruction. I think part of the reason we like quilting is that we are tactile. Absolutely must touch.The TATW is pretty random although I tried to get a yellow/orange/red on most of the main diagonals. That was the extent of my organization.

The beauty of TATW quilts is that you can use any fabrics and they seem to work. Love your Tapa cloth photos. must have been a very interesting exhibition. Thanks for linking to sew, stitch, snap, share.

I think you are right. Every fabric arrangement I've seen with TATW seems to work. Great place to use scraps.I plan to look for more exhibits of tapa cloth as we travel. And perhaps attend some lectures.